"Whatever had been in those boxes was gone. All I could remember was my mother pleading with Garvey, my father telling him to look around the place, see that we were barely scraping by. Where the hell had it come from?"
Ashleen hesitated, seeing in her mind's eye Kennisaw Jones's battered face, hearing that voice, so anguished, baring guilt that had eaten at him for twenty years. Was it fair to tell Garret what the old man had said? Would that revelation be a kindness to Garret, or one more cruelty?
Tell him I'm sorry, Kennisaw's voice echoed in Ashleen's head.Ask... forgive me...
She drew in a steadying breath and peered up into Garret's tortured eyes. "It was Kennisaw," she said softly.
"What the hell?" Garret demanded, incredulous.
Ash twined her fingers together, searching for the right words. "When we were trying to find you... on the way from St. Joe to West Port, Kennisaw told me. About what happened to your parents. About the gold."
"All this time you knew—about Ma and Pa and Beth. About what happened. You knew?"
Ash nodded.
"Damn that old bastard to hell! Why the devil didn't you say anything? Let me know that—"
"That Kennisaw had exposed a part of you that you had fought so hard to keep hidden? If you had suspected I knew about your parents, about what you had suffered, would you ever have left West Port with us? Would my telling you have served any purpose except hurting you further when you had already suffered enough?"
"So all that time you sat there looking so damn sad, looking at me with those damn angel eyes, you were pitying me? Feeling sorry for me? Poor Garret, poor blasted little boy, as lost as any of the strays you've gathered up." He glared at her, his eyes silver fire. "That's what I was to you, Ash? Just another stray?"
"You were a man I was falling in love with, even when I didn't want to. You were the most sensitive, loving, gentle man I had ever known. Yes, I hurt for you. Cried for you. Ached for you. But I never pitied you."
"Hell, it must've been rich, watching me struggle to—to tell you—tell you about what had happened."
Ash winced, stung by his words, but she met his gaze levelly. "You know that's not true."
Garret slammed his knotted fist against the feather tick, his face a mask of humiliation. "Well, since Kennisaw saw fit to tell you everything about me, maybe you could let me know what other goddamn secrets the old bastard spilled. That way I won't have to go through the torture of trying to tell you myself."
"Garret—"
"Damn it to hell, woman, do you know how hard it was for me? To talk about it? To tell you? I've never told another soul. I wouldn't even let Kennisaw speak of it, because it hurt so much."
"You trusted me." Ash's eyes stung, her voice trembled. "It was the greatest gift you could have given me."
"Was it?" Garret sneered. "Then why didn't you trust me? Tell me—"
"I will. Everything." Ash pressed her fingertips to her eyes. "I just didn't want to hurt you."
"Well, you did, lady. Hurt me like hell."
And I'm going to hurt you far worse, Ash thought numbly.
"It was Kennisaw," she began, "Kennisaw who put the gold on your family's land."
"Kennisaw?" Garret gaped at her, disbelieving. "That's insane. He was lucky if he had enough to buy a jug of rotgut. Where the blazes would he get his hands on gold?" But when he saw the solemn expression in those sky-shaded eyes, a sick stirring began in his stomach, and he felt a sudden urge to stop up his ears like Liam or Shevonne.
"Kennisaw claimed he'd been on a mission for Sam Houston," she said softly. "They had waylaid a caravan of Santa Ana's men and discovered the pack animals' burdens were stuffed with gold. Houston needed it for cannon, ammunition, guns, but he couldn't spare enough men to get the money east to buy supplies. He decided to try to sneak the money through with a party of three men, men who could melt into the night—disappear, if need be. Men who wouldn't attract the attention of Mexican troops or the less savory members of Houston's own."
"You're telling me that Sam Houston sent a king's ransom in gold across Texas in Kennisaw's hands?"
"Kennisaw's. And two other gunmen. Firepower, in case they should be threatened."
Garret knew in that instant, the truth slamming into his gut like a cudgel. Betrayal churned deep, and he felt the blood drain from his face. "The Garveys."
Ashleen nodded.
"Why? Why the hell would Kennisaw bring animals like those down on Ma and Beth? He loved Ma—hell, sometimes I think he was more in love with her than Pa was. Why would he dump the gold on our land and then leave us to the mercy of those murdering bastards?"
